Design
Topic archive / 918 posts
It seems like an important option is missing here, but I can’t put my finger on it.
Whoever owns a business called “Rob Weychert Desogn, LLC” now has liability insurance. I guess proofreading three words is a lot to ask.
Yes, “wonderfully designed > beautifully designed,” but Walmart blighting the horizon is a very poor example. the-pastry-box-project.net/daniel-burka/2… @dburka
Only
Fun fact for web standards geeks! One of the only acceptable uses of presentational markup: <font size="7" color="red">SLAYER</font>
Totally forgot how architecturally interesting Allentown and Bethlehem are.
Rest Rooms
Telling the story of my web standards awakening in a talk I’m putting together. Ten years later, it still gives me goosebumps. /cc @zeldman
If you don’t yet have the amazing @jessiarrington in your life, here’s what you’re missing: typotalks.com/sanfrancisco/2…
Found in an old sketchbook and presented without comment.
Wow, if I was looking for a full-time gig, I would be all over this: getharvest.com/careers/visual…
According to my research, and contrary to my expectations, only 6% of film posters featuring Danny DeVito make an overt joke of his height.
The Icon Handbook by @Hicksdesign delivers on its ambitious promise and then some. Comprehensive, clear, fantastic. fivesimplesteps.com/products/the-i…
Skipping what would’ve been my 9th SXSW in a row. I’ll miss seeing friends and films, but the interactive conference is just too bulky now.
Excited to have sketch notes from my @brooklynbeta talk included in @evalottchen’s impressive Sketchnotes 2012 book! sketchnotesbook.com
About to give up on another of many days of fighting with patterns and color schemes. And then, suddenly, it all snapped together.
One of the reasons I’m not especially interested in having children is that I know they’ll behave like Photoshop.
A concise, eloquent reminder from @wilsonminer that patience is still a virtue, even as technology moves ever faster. the-pastry-box-project.net/wilson-miner/2…
The only reason people use Opera is to complain about how web sites look in Opera.
Why do cars in the UK all look like they’re in the wrong aspect ratio?
You guys, @fchimero launched a new portfolio. In addition to housing stunning work, it is really, really well executed. frankchimero.com/work/
Buddha
So far this year, my favorite note I’ve taken during a client call: “Cool dinosaur effect.” 2012.convergese.com
Spiffy new, responsive @abookapart site. I helped out, but @jasonsantamaria and @destroytoday were the real magicians. abookapart.com
“The best designers and developers rarely have more talent. They simply have more time.” —@andybudd the-pastry-box-project.net/clearleft/2013…
Die Cut 6
Die Cut 5
Die Cut 4
Die Cut 3
Die Cut 2
Die Cut 1
The Loss of Matter
A rallying cry for our underserved senses.
I recently saw the band Swans live for the second time. They were promoting a stellar new album (The Seer) which essentially encompasses all of the varied and challenging music that bandleader Michael Gira has made under a few different monikers over the last thirty years. In the two years since I saw them last, I had gotten to know their oeuvre better, and coming to this show with a more educated ear paid off.… See more →
Obstruction by Design
We always talk about design getting out of the way, but does it ever make sense for design to get in the way?
I have an information retention problem. I absorb a lot of it, all of which is presumably stored somewhere, but not nearly as much of it remains available for unassisted recall as I would like. Not surprisingly, the stuff that is best remembered has been reinforced, usually through some kind of repeated application or extensive immersion. In other words, if something is retained in my long-term memory, I probably had to work for it. Fair… See more →
Inefficiency by Design
How my web site’s lack of a CMS has made me more prolific.
There is a popular myth in geek circles which claims that the QWERTY layout standard for Latin keyboards was actually designed to slow down typing, since early typewriters were prone to jam. While this is a misunderstanding (jams were caused by the mechanical proximity of common letter pairs, not the speed of typing), it has occasionally made me wonder: could technological shortcomings that ostensibly get in the way of the user experience actually, ultimately, be… See more →
Loving @evalottchen’s sketch notes from @brooklynbeta: flic.kr/p/djpyuq
Chris Ware’s Building Stories has arrived. I’ll need to schedule a weekend for this.
Oh, Adobe Paragraph Composer, you so crazy.
Damn. Rest in peace, Bill Moggridge. Modern design wouldn’t be the same without you. cooperhewitt.org/remembering-…
“‘Hipster’ is just a word people use to describe others who are having more fun than they are.” gawker.com/5930215/?comme…
After a month of intermittent travel/vacation, @kellianderson’s inspiring @creativemorning talk was just what I needed to get back to work.
For future reference, in case there is any confusion about what I’m doing in a padded cell: drbl.in/eDYD
If you need an explanation of why @jessicahische and @StrangeNative are my favorite creative power couple, try this: jessandruss.us
Slow Motion Spectacle
Progress takes time.
We notice the sort of design that demands to be noticed, and make the mistake of proclaiming it to be some kind of “game changer”, glossing over its functional failings in favor of its unique approach to a problem. But the truth is that the game is much more likely to be changed incrementally, by design that doesn’t call attention to itself. When we wake up tomorrow, we won’t be greeted by a new and… See more →
Twelve years ago, Relapse Records was my first and last design job interview to send me home with a stack of grindcore CDs. #FunFactFriday
Filmmakers: Your work is collaborative. You should know better than to typeset your own titles. Hire a designer. trailers.apple.com/trailers/indep…
Oh, hey, here’s an interview @aarron did with me about the musician templates I recently designed for @Mailchimp: mailchimp.com/musician-templ…
As Much Trouble as It’s Worth
A quick thought about design as sleight of hand.
In an article for Smithsonian magazine, renowned magician Teller (of the duo Penn & Teller) offers a handful of guiding principles for altering an audience’s perceptions. This one is my favorite:
Make the secret a lot more trouble than the trick seems worth. You will be fooled by a trick if it involves more time, money and practice than you (or any other sane onlooker) would be willing to invest.
This is the stuff great… See more →
The day has come. @mike_ftw’s new book, Design Is a Job, is available. I have read it. It is so, so good. abookapart.com/products/desig…
The most glaring problem in the Star Wars movies is the one George Lucas will never address: the horrible typesetting of the opening crawls.
Hoping the implications of retina displays lead more designers and developers to embrace SVG when appropriate.